Dota is a way of life in China. There’s a reason why the country of China has just as many TI championships as all of the West combined. Given the game’s popularity, it’s not surprising that a Chinese production company has developed a new web series based on the aspirations of young Dota players and their dreams of going pro.
Earlier this week, the brand new internet series Dream x Strategy was announced. It’ll be available on the QQ website, with new episodes airing every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. QQ is apparently owned by Tencent, who owns Riot, so I’m not sure what logic they’re following by promoting a webseries about a rival game.
Dream x Strategy features cameos from illustrious Dota personalities such as BurNing, Rotk and the infamous Ruru. The show’s cast will mostly be filled by actors, but the Dota pros will hopefully have roles as recurring characters. Check out the trailer for yourself.
Now, I don’t understand Mandarin, but I get the feeling it’s a classic underdog story with some romance and BurNing cameos mixed in. Reddit user redefhist was able to translate some of it. Hopefully some good Samaritans will step in and provide English subtitles for it, because Drama x Strategy might be a better title for the show.
I always forget that BurNing is a handsome man who lends himself well to acting on TV. I’m trying to imagine what the North American version of this dramedy would look like. Perhaps an episode about Fear and Universe realizing that even their combined TI5 earnings aren’t enough to afford an apartment in San Francisco. Or five minutes of closeups on Arteezy’s face while Mango Bay plays on continuous loop in the background.
“Today, on Salt x Reality, PPD decides whether it’s worth his time to tweet a vaguely inflammatory remark at Swindlemelonzz!”
Believe it or not, this isn’t the first time Dota has appeared as a focal point of a TV series:
There’s even a rap in Filipino about TNC’s win at WESG in January.